Azerbaijan, with respect, are hardly Brazil 1970. Their results over the past year include defeats to Iran and Lithuania.

Their more positive scorelines include draws with those footballing superpowers of Uzbekistan, Kuwait and Iceland.

But they also, in recent times, haven’t been battered by anyone. Turkey managed two goals in a friendly last Tuesday, as did Russia earlier in this Group Four qualifying campaign.

That’s as bad as it has got for the Azeri.

Minnows they may be, complete mugs their results tend to suggest they aren’t.

I must admit I feared for Wales out there on Saturday. An entire team was missing through injury, Toshack’s teens had to deal with sweltering heat, as well as a rugged, intimidating Azerbaijan side who had clearly targeted this as a game they could win.

Right from the start, Berti Vogts’ side kicked the Welsh youngsters in the hope they would surrender.

Well, stand up and be saluted Messrs Ledley (an inspiration as skipper), Ramsey, Gunter and co.

Wales refused to cower under the unsavoury tactics employed by Vogts’ men, they shrugged aside the weak refereeing by Swedish official Marcus Strombergsson; they steadfastly declined to wilt in the heat.

Instead, Wales stood firm early on, imposed their own authority and skill on the game and scored a deserved David Edwards winner.

And when the heat was on, in more ways than one, in the closing half-hour, the youngsters still wouldn’t buckle.

The one area where you would hope this Welsh team would score over any opponents is in terms of zest, energy and athleticism.

But these youngsters have been thrown in at the deep end, having to learn the ropes of international football on the hoof.

The mental and physical demands take their toll and Wales looked heavy-legged in the second half on Saturday as they did against Finland at the Millennium Stadium.

But this time Wales displayed a team spirit, togetherness, organisation, discipline and belief in one another that was so woefully missing from the team in March.

Yes, we can decry the fact it was only Azerbaijan.

Yes, we can sneer at the fact that no-one seems to care about Toshack’s Wales at the moment.

Let’s deal with the first point.

We are Wales, remember, not England, Spain or Italy. Competitive wins have been few and far between, whether Toshack, Mark Hughes, Bobby Gould or Terry Yorath has been the manager.

I don’t think we are in a position to turn up our noses at any sort of victory for the national team, particularly away from home in the World Cup, where they are even rarer.

The last time Wales went to Baku was in 2004 when Hughes fielded the following team: Jones; Delaney, Melville, Page, Gabbidon; Koumas, Savage, Pembridge, Speed; Bellamy, Hartson.

They managed a 1-1 draw, so that puts Saturday’s result into perspective because Azerbaijan have improved immeasurably since then.

As for the issue of the apathy surrounding Wales at the moment, there are a number of reasons for this.

But one obvious one is the fact the team is in transition and doesn’t look like qualifying for a major finals.

They have abjectly failed this time around, too, courtesy of that abysmal performance against the Finns in March when Toshack’s team selection and tactics came into question.

But that game it appears, was a watershed for Toshack. He is adamant his senior players let him down and they have been missing (literally, not metaphorically speaking) in the last two matches.

Into their place have come an even more youthful crop of players to what was already the youngest international team in Europe.

Hennessey, Gunter, Nyatanga, Bale, Ramsey, Collison, Ledley, Edwards. This is a talented group that can be together for the next 12 years and, who many shrewd pundits believe, will one day end our qualifying hoodoo.

The new team was bedded in during the 1-0 friendly win over Estonia 10 days ago, but they made real strides in the hostile atmosphere of Baku.

Toshack has 10 more matches to cement his team further before the Euro 2012 qualifiers begin in September 2010.

The manager will be tempted to recall his senior players and there clearly has to be a path back for Craig Bellamy, Danny Gabbidon and James Collins.

As for Toshack’s more regular midfield of Simon Davies, Jason Koumas and Carl Fletcher, an even bigger question mark remains about their international futures this morning.

Collison, injured for Baku, is a shoo-in to return for the next game. But to leave out any one of Ramsey, Edwards or Ledley, after the way they ran their socks off in Azerbaijan, would be an insult to them.

If Toshack decrees the senior players are not the ones capable of getting Wales to a major finals, then logic says he has to go with the younger brigade to see if they are good enough.

The only way they will become battle-hardened is by continuing to go through experiences like Saturday.

The ideal scenario will be to get this crop of teens and early 20-somethings ready for the start of a tournament when they will have the potent mix of youthful energy and athleticism mixed with international know-how.

That will be some combination, but the first strides towards it were taken in Baku.